Preferred Credit Card

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sharktale1212

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I have not been a fan of credit cards, per se. Considering the cashbacks and discounts (specially things like free movie tickets :P ) I have been looking to apply for a credit card. There has been some false starts
- ICICI has my salary account, promised me a person to turn up to collect the docs, never happened. While they started out with no annual or joining fees due to my platinum account status, that now has been rescinded. I need to pay the joining fees and the annual fees if the spending is not up to the limit.
- I applied for CITI but they turned out to be lying xxxx. First they said lifetime free card, even when I can see their offer document doesnt specify so. When I received the card turns out it is as per their offer doc. Cancelled the card but another one was issued promptly. A supposed lifetime free card.

So I was wondering which card do you guys find best suited for a. shopping and cashbacks b. Oil co-branded cards?
 
Almost all of the free to use cards will have very less bonus/benefits. Those who charge annual fees will also have a fee waiver if you spend upto a certain amount. Calculate your rough annual expenditure including bill payments/ recharges/ major expenses and then check if the annual fees are worth paying for. In some cases additional points are awarded for annual fee payments, check these as the points are generally worth 25p each.
Some shops charge extra on the bill amount if paying by CC, avoid these but do make it a point to try and always pay by CC.

Regarding offers etc.
There are bank specific offers and Card vendor specific offers and individual card based offers.
Visa has better movie related offers as compared to Mastercard( BOGO for Platinum and above cards). Many banks are offering free tickets/discounts too but expect these to get over as soon as their CC sales targets are met. The Visa offer has been going on for more than 2 years IIRC.
Mastercard had a 2x coupons offer on freecharge.in but that is gone now. It usually comes back.
Getting a cashback card would be difficult but preferable over those which offer points as the point redemption options are limited to items which are overpriced and to shop specific gift vouchers which is the only viable option.

Co-Branded cards should be chosen only if you are getting similar benefits as normal cards.
Almost all cards offer a petrol pump surcharge waiver while a co-branded card would offer you additional points.
TATA has a card from SBI which gives you additional points and discounts at any TATA Brand outlets. If you are buying from Croma, they will give you the option to buy one. i think the points' worth is also more than 25p and you can pay for purchases directly with the points.
A colleague of mine recently switched to a card with 5K annual charges only based on the fact that he travels a lot and will get more benefits and points/airmiles and the annual charge would pay for itself.

There is no one card which fits all options and you have 2 choices.
1. get multiple cards with no annual charges to use based on offers available.
2. get a single card based on your calculated usage which will allow you to waive of the annual charge.

I'd suggest you to go with option one. Get as many free cards as you can and over a period of time you will find out which works best. This also helps you to maintain a healthy credit relationship with various banks provided you pay the bills on time. As you continue using the free cards, you will get offers from the banks to upgrade to higher cards with reduced fees too.

I have multiple cards from many years and am trying to find a better card which would be worth the annual charges.
 
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Checkout Axis Bank My Cards. They have 3 type of My Cards.
1. My Wings : You'll get number of offers on travelling via flight, airport facilities, hotel benefits etc.
2. My Zone : You'll get cashback offer on Movie tickets, dinner / lunch on weekends, shopping etc.
2. My Choise : You can stick a image of your personal choise to this card and can choose any two of the spending offer from above (Eg. Either Flight concession, or cashback on movie tickets, or cashback on dinner / lunch etc.)

I have My Zone and is perfect for peoples who loves to hangout.

http://www.axisbank.com/personal/ca...ds/My-Zone-Credit-Card/features-benefits.aspx

http://www.axisbank.com/personal/ca.../My-Choice-Credit-Card/features-benefits.aspx

http://www.axisbank.com/personal/ca...s/My-Wings-Credit-Card/features-benefits.aspx

They have another one, My Business, but I don't think they will give that to you, I guess it's criteria is to be a business man or something may be.

http://www.axisbank.com/personal/ca...MyBusiness-Credit-Card/features-benefits.aspx
 
My cards that i've used for over 4 years are just 2
1. Citibank - Awesome tieups. Great for shopping and general use.. biggest advantage, points can be encashed and adjusted against card outstandings.
2. HDFC Gold World Master - Best for petrol spends.. swipe at any brand fuel outlet.. no additional charges. Points per rupee spent is also slightly better than Citi.. only issue being they don't let you encash the points or adjust against outstanding. You have to redeem against their catalogue or online redemption site which is utter and completely shit, with the price of items absolutely laughable. Best thing to do.. encash your points for Croma GV's and buy what you want
 
Using the below :-

HDFC Gold Card :- This is linked to my salary account and I mainly use this for EMI as most of the websites allow HDFC cards. Using very sparely.
Citi Indian Oil Card :- My primary card and I use it to fill fuel and all my general needs. As pointed our Citi has lots of tie ups and it works out quite well.
SC Inner Circle Card :- This is my third card which I mainly use for shopping. The good thing is that the points accumulated add upto lifestyle which can be redeemed for agains the bill. Free and quite good.
 
Which credit card can give me maximum benefits for paying LIC premium, I am about to pay 24k premium. I have time of about 3 months. pls suggest. Thanks in advance.
 
ashu said:
Which credit card can give me maximum benefits for paying LIC premium, I am about to pay 24k premium. I have time of about 3 months. pls suggest. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


i paid double the premium, used an indusind platinum ( direct cash back via points, redeem the points for cashback)
however the card is with a membership fee :)
 
Actually I accumulated many card since my job started in jun 2011. currently I am having HPCL ICICI Credit card, Standard Chartered platinum reward card which I use regularly. other than Lifetime free Axis and HDFC Credit cards which I dont use anymore. Apart from that recently in my office citibank offering free watch on application. so applied for Citibank cashback card.;)
Actually I wanted Standard Chartered Cashback card, I applied twice for it but there was no response from their end. So suggest accordingly.
 
Depending on usage of course: for us, the only cards in use for the last 3 years are a Citi and a Amex, paid ones, which provide everything from a concierge on the phone to book cabs and flight tickets, to cash back on groceries and fuel :D

Edit: Having 2 cards with high limits automatically reduces your CIBIL score. Due to the heavy credit lines, my CIBIL score is 733/800 considering the same, although my bill payments are always on the dot.
 
Yes i got my cc changed to a chip as i had used the card online for international transaction.

That's the catch of the rbi guideline, that one should have used the card either online or offline for international transactions in order to avail the chip card
 
Yes, Citi started changing the cards for the customers to Chip based ones few months back. IIRC to try and complete the swap before the previous deadline.
 
Which credit card offers buyer protection. As in take a scenario wherein you buy something online, be it on an Indian website or some international website and the seller screws up something or Is uncooperative or sends a defective product and you want your money back and say the seller does not agree to it.
So is there a card which will do a chargeback or help me get my money back ? I have never tried this so am unsure whether buyer protection is even available in India or not.
 
raksrules said:
Which credit card offers buyer protection. As in take a scenario wherein you buy something online, be it on an Indian website or some international website and the seller screws up something or Is uncooperative or sends a defective product and you want your money back and say the seller does not agree to it.
So is there a card which will do a chargeback or help me get my money back ? I have never tried this so am unsure whether buyer protection is even available in India or not.
Click to expand...

But is this kind of protection available elsewhere?
Sounds out of the way for a credit card company because why would they want to get into a buyer seller dispute?
 
If I know correctly every credit card has this option of applying for a chargeback if you don't receive something you have paid for.
BTW, got myself a HDFC Regalia card against an FD. Best thing us that on any foregin currency transaction I only get charged 2% over the actual rate. Bought some stuff from Aliexpress and was charged Rs 61.60 against $1 which was the rate that day. Will be charged the 2% in the statement separately.
 
Thanks for this thread, i am just about to start a discussion about this. After seeing this i have no need.
I am not having any experience with this credit cards. I want to take a credit card now. My main usage would be online shopping.
Someone please suggest me the best one. By the way someone please shed some light about the pros and cons of having a credit card.
Like deadlines for payment. How much will be charged if deadline crossed. Annual fees to be payed. Is there any minimum amount we should purchase every month etc.,

Thanks in advance.
 
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